Driver Managers (DM) Dispatchers, etc..

In a nutshell, they assign you the loads. They are your primary link to anything you do with the carrier you are with. Many, including me, tend to also call them our "travel agents". Essentially, if you have an issue with anything regarding your job at the carrier, the load, a breakdown, the customer, etc, you are going to go thru your Driver Manager to get a resolve. The safety folks are probably the only other major contact you use with a carrier. 98% of what you do will be done thru the DM or safety. Unless you have a problem truck, then the percentage gets skewed towards the shop personnel.

It is not much different than any other "relationship" in life. Sometimes it works real well, sometimes it is a nightmare. You have to take the time and develop a good working relationship with your travel agent. You do not have to kiss their back side, but you do have to keep in mind that they are people also and have their own pressure to deal with. But, they need to also remember the issues you have to deal with also. I have had fairly good results with most dispatchers I have worked with over the years. There have been a couple that I had a conflict with. Usually, a good sit down with your dispatcher with an eye to eye chat, will iron out any problems that exist. Usually it is nothing more than a communication issue. But there are times when a conflict cannot be resolved easily. Then you have to take stock of the situation and figure out if you need to go higher, or in the worse case, clean out the truck and go somewhere else.

 

It also depends on the size of the company. A DM in a larger company tends to just be a dispatcher with a fancy name. They are mostly just your go to person and they dont even pick or assign your loads. The loads are usually assigned by a planner or coordinator that only knows you by a truck number on a board.

 

That depends. I got my year in and chose to stay with the same company and Im still there today. It's always fun when other drivers think you are a noobie because you work for a starter/training company and then you demonstrate a higher skill level than they have.